


Operation Zimbits

by smilexdarling



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Coming Out, F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff, Future Fic, Graduation, Happy Ending, M/M, Meddling, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-12 14:55:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7110097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smilexdarling/pseuds/smilexdarling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of what happens when Suzanne Bittle and the Zimmermanns team up to get their crazy kids together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Operation Zimbits

[Graduation Day]

“I can’t believe you did that.”

“Babe, it was time. I know we had our master plan, and as much as I love Jack, he was being an idiot. He needed help. All I did was give him a little push.”

Alicia blinked at Bob.

“Okay, fine, it was more of a shove. At least I didn’t flat out say, ‘Hey, so you’re completely in love with Bitty. Go get him before you miss your chance forever, you dweeb.’ I showed some self restraint,” Bob argued.

Alicia rolled her eyes but Bob could tell she wasn’t too put out with him because of her smirk. 

“Well, while I don’t condone taking such drastic measures without consultation in the future, I am glad that Jack finally realized how he feels and hopefully he can get things sorted out once and for all,” Alicia said as Bob wrapped an arm around her waist.

“Did you see his face? There’s no way he’s leaving this campus until he and Bitty are Facebook official.”

“Jack doesn’t have a Facebook.”

Bob sighed, “I know. Where did we go wrong?”

“I don’t know. You’d think with our hip and cool influence our son wouldn’t be such a grandpa. I hope Bitty helps him with that. He’s very tech-savvy, what with the vlogs and the tweeting.”

Bob nodded as they made their way back to their car, weaving through the groups of graduates that were still taking pictures with their families. 

“We should probably call Suzanne and update her on the situation. She’ll need to know so she can move up Stage Two.” 

“Oh, good point. I’ll call her once we get to the car,” Alicia said.

Bob hoped Jack appreciated him and Alicia. Lord knows where he’d be without their help. 

* * *

[About a week later]

“Dicky, sweetheart, could you grab some more butter for me, please?”

“Sure, Mama,” Bitty said as he turned to walk over to the fridge.

Suzanne snuck a quick peak at her phone and saw that Alicia and Bob had both responded to her text with thumbs up emojis. Everything was ready to go, she just had to do her best to keep her cool and not give anything away. She knew those drama classes in high school would pay off eventually.

Bitty came back over to her and set the butter down on the counter before picking up where he left off rolling out the dough for the pies they were making. She quickly and discretely locked her phone and pushed it aside before he could see anything.

“So, I know you’ve got a busy schedule with the camp this summer, but you’ll have a few days off for the Fourth of July…”

Bitty furrowed his brow, wondering where she was going with this, “Yeah, I get that whole week off actually.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Suzanne said.

“Mhm,” Bitty hummed.

“And what did you say Jack’s plans were for the summer?”

“Uh, I don’t think I said, but he’s in Providence. He said—I-I mean, I would imagine he’ll probably be training to get ready for the preseason with the Falconers,” Bitty replied.

Suzanne nodded. She moved over to the oven so that she wouldn’t be facing Bitty, just in case her face gave her away when she made her move.

“Well you should call him up and see if he’s free around the fourth. It’d be lovely to have him down here to celebrate with us.” 

Suzanne could feel her cheeks heat up. She continued fiddling with things around the oven to avoid Bitty’s suspicious eyes. So much for the acting classes.

When Bitty took too long to respond, she glanced over at him. He was staring at her with wide eyes, his mouth hanging open a little. When he caught her looking, he shook himself and quickly turned back to his dough.

“Oh! Um. Really?” Bitty asked. If he had been aiming for nonchalant, well, let’s just say it was clear he shared Suzanne’s acting ability.

She grabbed a couple of peaches and started rinsing them off in the sink, making sure she didn’t crowd Bitty. He was always a little touchy about personal space, but especially when he was nervous about something, and Suzanne knew this conversation would probably put him on edge. She also had to be careful not to reveal too much so that she didn’t accidentally out her son…to her son… It was confusing. She just wanted her baby to be happy and to let him know that Jack was welcome in their home any time.

It didn’t take an expert to see that Bitty had been a little down in the dumps since the semester ended and Jack had graduated. Stage Two of her, Alicia, and Bob’s plan had been moved up a little and the Fourth of July presented the perfect opportunity to get their boys together again so they could be happy and keep things moving along nicely. 

The three of them didn’t know much about what happened after Jack had gone after Bitty, but Jack had told his parents that he and Bitty, “Were good,” and Alicia said she hadn’t seen Jack so luminescent in years. 

It was important for them to get to see each other as much as possible, especially when their relationship was so new. Assuming they were actually together, but even if they weren’t yet, maybe they could figure that out when Jack came to visit.

“Of course. Jack’s a sweetheart and I know you two are friends; you must miss him. I would love to get to see him again, and you could show him around town, give him a taste of some southern hospitality.” 

Bitty seemed to mull that over. Suzanne was a little worried he was going to give himself a coronary. Honestly, these boys. 

Finally, Bitty looked back at Suzanne shyly, a smile tugging at his lips. “Okay, if you’re sure it won’t be too much trouble.”

“It’s no trouble at all, sugar. The more the merrier. We’ll have to keep him away from Moo Maw, though, you know how she is when there’s a handsome man around.” 

Bitty giggled and smiled down at the dough he was cutting into strips. 

Once they had all of the pies ready to go and were sitting out on the patio, Suzanne texted Bob and Alicia: “Dicky’s going to ask Jack to come down for the 4th. Think he’ll say yes?”

Bob responded first, “He will if he knows what’s good for him!”

Alicia added a few minutes later, “We’ll make sure he’s there, even if I have to fly the plane to Georgia myself! ;)”

Suzanne smiled as she did a proud little shimmy when Bitty wasn’t looking. It was a lot of work, but anything she could do to help her baby get his happy ending was worth it. 

* * *

[Later that evening]

Bitty shut the door to his bedroom quietly as he whispered urgently into his phone, “You’re coming to my house for the Fourth of July.”

“Hi, Bits. Good to hear from you, too. Oh I’m fine, a little tired from training, but overall pretty good,” Jack said.

“Now is not the time to sass me mister Zimmermann!” Bitty winced and pressed his ear to his door to make sure no one had heard him. When he didn’t hear anyone coming to check on him, he continued, “You’re officially invited to the Bittle family Fourth of July celebration and I think if you turn it down my mother will march up to Providence and drag you down here by the ear. I suggest you just agree now because she’s got a strong pinch.”

Jack laughed, “I accept. I was actually just about to call you and see if you wanted to do anything that week since I knew we both had time off and my parents, coincidentally, just texted me saying they were going on a cruise that week and basically I was on my own. It was kind of weird. They’re weird,” Jack trailed off.

“Oh, that is weird. The timing, not the cruise part.” Bitty blew out a deep breath. “Well, great. I get to see you sooner than I thought,” Bitty said, trying and failing to tamp down on the grin that was overtaking his face.

Jack sounded like he was doing the same when he said softly, “Yeah, I can’t wait. I miss you.”

“I miss you, too. It sucks that we won’t be able to, y’know, be lovey dovey while you’re here, but at least we’ll get to spend some extra time together before you’re birthday.”

Bitty kept talking to Jack, planning out all of the things they would do once he got there and warning him about how flirty his Moo Maw would undoubtedly be once she got a few beers in her. 

He was so wrapped up in his excitement that he didn’t hear Suzanne creep up to his door to listen in, smiling to herself at the few bits of the conversation she caught, and snuck back down the hall. 

* * *

[Bitty’s Graduation Day]

“I’m so nervous. If I throw up on my mother before I come out to her, I don’t think that’ll really set the right tone for the conversation.” 

Jack smiled fondly down at Bitty, gently rubbing his shoulders, “You aren’t going to throw up. You’re going to walk across that stage, become an official Samwell graduate, then go out to dinner with your favorite people. And during that dinner, you’ll casually mention that you’re gay and have been dating a total hunk for the past couple of years named Jack Zimmermann.” 

Bitty grinned for a moment but then deflated and collapsed into Jack’s chest, demanding a hug. Jack was more than happy to oblige.

They stayed that way for a few moments, then Bitty took a deep breath and pushed away. “Okay. Let’s do this.” 

Jack almost chirped Bitty about his ‘determined face’, the one he got when he played, but he managed to hold it in, not sure how well it would be received at the moment. 

Jack joined his and Bitty’s parents where they were seated to watch Bitty graduate. They all cheered when Bitty’s named was called, Jack was a little embarrassed by his dad’s wolf whistle, but happy to be reminded of how much his parents loved Bitty. He hoped it would make it that much easier to tell them they had been dating for two years behind their backs.

The ceremony ended and Bitty found them all waiting outside, near the spot that he and Jack had said what they thought were their goodbyes just two years earlier. They chatted and took some pictures before heading off to the restaurant.

* * *

[At the restaurant]

The Bittles all slid into their booth first, followed by Jack and his parents. They were at one of the fancier restaurants near campus, one Jack and Bitty had frequented whenever Jack was in town and they wanted a more official date night. The food was incredible, even by Bitty’s standards, and Jack just hoped he could stomach his dinner. The nerves hadn’t really affected him all day, but being seated across Bitty with their parents in between them, suddenly made the whole thing more real and his hands were definitely clammy. 

They all ordered and sipped their drinks, talking about how nice the ceremony was, and about Bitty’s plans for the future.

Bitty looked at Jack from under his eyelashes and said, “About that…” 

Jack braced himself and hooked his ankle around Bitty’s. Bitty’s shoulders relaxed a little at that, but not much.

“Mama, Coach, um. I’ve decided on what I want to do next, I was just waiting to tell you until you were in town. I got a job in Providence and I’m going to go live there. With Jack. Because, because Jack and I are together,” Bitty said in a rush, his cheeks turning more red by the second. Jack wanted nothing more than to wrap him up in a hug, but that would have to wait.

Bitty turned a beseeching look on his mother and continued, “I’m sorry I’ve waited so long to tell you, but I was scared and I wasn’t sure how you would take it and, well, I’m still not, but I know how much you love Jack and I thought it might be easier for you to accept if you knew that I was happy and with someone who really loves me and that we’re going to start our life together and why aren’t you saying anything, Mama, say something please—“

Suzanne laughed and gently placed her hand over Bitty’s mouth, “Well if you’d take a breath, maybe I could get a word in edgewise.”

Suzanne dropped her hand and Bitty took a breath, she continued, “Darlin’, I know.”

Bitty asked, “You know?” at the same time Jack asked, “What?”

Bitty looked between his mother and Coach, both of whom were smiling at him calmly, waiting for it to sink in. 

“You both knew?!” Bitty almost shrieked. Coach just nodded while Suzanne clasped Bitty’s hands in hers and started talking. 

Jack didn’t catch what she said because he turned to his parents and asked, “Did you know?”

Bob tilted his head and quirked an eyebrow, “Dude.”

“Yes, we knew,” Alicia elaborated.

Jack gaped at them for a second, then looked at Bob, “Did you just call me dude?”

“We’ve known pretty much since the day it happened. It did happen on your graduation day didn’t it? We’ve got a bit of a bet going about that and I really want my fifty bucks from Suzanne, so even if you didn’t make things official that day, could you maybe lie and say you did?” Alicia asked.

Jack…had no idea what to say to that.

He looked over at Bitty and saw that he and Suzanne were in the middle of what looked like a much needed hug, both of their eyes shining. 

Well, all things considered, Jack would say that their coming out had gone off without a hitch. 

Now all he had to worry about was convincing his mom to let Suzanne keep her fifty dollars.


End file.
